At one point of the third One Day International between India and Sri Lanka in Pallekele on Sunday, August 27, the visitors were in a spot of bother, after having lost middle-order batsman KL Rahul and Kedar Yadav in a span of eight balls.
In-form Shikhar Dhawan and skipper Virat Kohli were already in the hut and India were at 61/4, chasing a target of 219.
But, Jadhav was the last Indian wicket to fall on Sunday as MS Dhoni and opener Rohit Sharma bailed their team out of trouble and stitched a 157-run stand that helped India seal an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series.
While Rohit came up with a fluent knock of 125, which had 16 boundaries and two sixes, Dhoni played the anchor role to perfection. It was the former India captain, who once again showed the world how to maintain calm in tough situations.
Dhoni's 86-ball 67 was less flamboyant, but it was the innings that India needed to keep the Sri Lankan bowlers at bay.
Dhoni has now bailed India out twice in as many games. In the second ODI, the the 36-year-old's knock was even more special as India were jolted by a magical spell from unorthodox Sri Lankan spinner Akila Dananjaya.
Kohli's men were reeling at 131 for 7 in chase of 237 only to be rescued by Dhoni and Bhuvneshwar Kumar as the duo stitched an unbeaten 100-run stand for the eighth wicket to take India past the line.
Dhoni hit 45 from 68, a knock worth gold. The right-hander made sure Dananjaya did no further damage by stepping down often and disrupting the young spinner's consistency. He kept walking up and down the pitch and offered valuable inputs to Kumar, which helped him hit his first ODI half-century.
Dhoni doing what he does best
After making his debut in 2004, Dhoni rose to prominence with his big-hitting skills that deflated oppositions. But as his career progressed, the aggressor in the wicketkeeper-batsman started playing second fiddle to the astute and ice-cool Jharkhand man.
Pressure never hampered Dhoni's performances and in fact the World Cup winning-skipper enjoyed the pressure-cooker situations more than anything else. The wins that he has sealed for India from jaws of defeat were not by means of luck. It was his impeccable match awareness and his ability to remain focused on the job in hand that created the magic.
Dhoni is once again at it. This time, there is pressure on him as the Indian selectors are not reluctant to axe seniors from the side keeping in mind the preparations for the 2019 Cricket World Cup.
Dhoni's long-time friends and teammates Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina were shown the door after they had failed fitness tests ahead of the ongoing Sri Lanka tour. Chief selector MSK Prasad had said Dhoni needed to perform consistently if he wished to retain his place in the side.
Prasad's exact words were: "We all want the Indian team to do well. If he [Dhoni] is delivering, why not? If he is not, we will have to look at alternatives."
Dhoni seems to be loving this new kind of pressure as well. The Indian captain, who had managed only 347 runs at 27.30 in 2016, is scoring with remarkable consistency in the ongoing year -- 498 runs at a staggering average of 83, including a century.
Not just the runs, but Dhoni has once again proved there is no better finisher than him on the Indian side. His big-hitting skills might be on the wane, but it is refreshing to see the former captain delivering under pressure with superhuman regularity despite not featuring in India's Test plans.
And it is safe to say that Dhoni is still winning fans around the globe with his work behind the stumps. At 36, the Jharkhand hero still is among the fittest and quickest in the team.
Former India opener Virender Sehwag, who was ecstatic with India's performance on Sunday, shed light on the importance of having an experienced campaigner like Dhoni in the middle order.
"We should not worry about whether Dhoni is scoring runs or not. We should only pray that MS Dhoni is fit till 2019 World Cup. The experience that he has in the middle and the lower middle order, no one has that," Sehwag said. Not many could have said it better!
